Quick Review: Alien Raiders (2009)

"A supermarket full of people is taken hostage by some well trained "Terrorists", who turn out to be "Raiders" of the alien variety; they're after the source of a contagion that could doom mankind, and as rogue scientists, they aren't opposed to cutting off thumbs or hooking aliens on drugs to root out that hidden scourge..."

I thought I'd hate this little Sci-Fi movie right from the get go, and that was based on the title alone; it's a goofy title which screams "I'm a B-movie!" at the top of it's lungs. Thankfully for us, the movie sings a different tune altogether.

What is that?!?

I don't know how some low-budget films "get it," and some don't; because if you do it right, you don't need a ton of money to make a great movie (although it surely helps.) The creators of Alien Raiders seem to understand that though, as they made a movie that was tense, gory, fun, and managed not to do the one thing that MANY, MANY, MANY low budget Sci-Fi/Horror movies do all the time; insult my intelligence and piss me off.

I like how they told us very little about the aliens; less is always more with me. Most films tend to lose it when they feel they have to explain or even over-explain themselves. I also love the "testing" of the hostages... it felt very "The Thing" to me, but not in a rip-off sort of way. I'm glad that this movie seems to be getting a lot of positive buzz, as the look, pacing, acting, story... it's all pretty tight and engaging. 

And what in the hell is that?!?

Maybe The Sci-Fi Channel (soon to be Syfy... WTF?!?) should hire Ben Rock and his boys to be their in-house movie production team, because Alien Raiders is the best movie they never made. Buy/rent the DVD now, and support one of the good ones.

B+

Alien Raiders is available now on DVD and VOD.

Courtney Ford is in this.